Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the panel for attending this afternoon. In terms of the environmental pillars, many concerns are expressed to us about Ireland moving too far ahead unilaterally and the damage that this could cause economically. Economic and environmental development have not been linked for the past century. Trying for the former without taking environmental impacts into consideration has brought us to our current situation. What main points could be made to beat the argument that moving ahead unilaterally would damage us and that, given our small size globally, our moves would have no environmental effect of any significance?

What of a possible trade-off with agriculture? It is a large sector in the economies of this State and the smaller state to the north. If offset, agriculture could be allowed to produce a greater level of emissions than transport or energy.

Mr. Healy mentioned the climate fund and the Scottish model. Will one of our guests explain how that fund will work? I will not mention targets, as the Bill that I published this year was generally in agreement with our guests' comments on giving definitive signals to industry in terms of investment.